You are the Knightling, apprentice to Sir Lionstone, the greatest knight the land of Clesseia has ever seen. But when Sir Lionstone suddenly goes missing, it’s time for you to step up and become the hero. Armed with your mentor’s iconic shield, powered by a strange element known as Callyrium, you must locate and rescue Sir Lionstone – and, along the way, solve puzzles, complete side quests, defeat enemies, and go shield-sliding, shield-gliding, and more.
The Knightling is an open-world action adventure with platforming elements, created by Pine developers Twirlbound and published by Saber Interactive. While I was initially drawn to the game because of the comparisons people were making to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I can say that, while the similarities are definitely there, The Knightling absolutely stands on its own as an extremely fun and downright addictive game. Will Breath of the Wild (and Tears of the Kingdom) fans enjoy this game? Yes, absolutely, but it’s so much more than just a “Breath-like.”
To me, the best parts of the Knightling were twofold: the unique shield-based combat and traversal system, and the design of the world. From the very first moment, the world of Clesseia is a wonderful place to spend time. It’s colorful, beautifully designed, filled with interesting NPCs who are, for the most part, friendly and good-natured (although a few of them express the doubts that the Knightling can be as effective a hero as their mentor, and frequently compare them to the missing Lionstone). It’s also packed with puzzles, and so many of them aren’t straightforwardly told to you, but are just scattered around and you have to show initiative to explore and seek out hidden secrets on your own.
I love the world’s puzzles in The Knightling. They’re hidden everywhere, from inside caves and dungeons to even in the stars (hint hint) and they are fun, unique and do not get repetitive even if you seek out each and every one. I also like how the focus on puzzles emphasizes that the Knightling is a different kind of hero than Sir Lionstone; they’re good in a fight, true, but they don’t have Lionstone’s overwhelming brawn and need to be a cleverer and brainier hero rather than just brute forcing their way through various challenges they encounter.
Of course, the Knightling does have to fight, and when they do, they do it with their mentor’s shield. The choice to make combat in the game primarily shield-based is a really unique one. You can’t just go on the offensive immediately; you have to be careful, and focus on defending yourself. You can attack, and, as the game goes on, you will unlock new skills that provide you with more options in battle, but using your shield and defending yourself will always remain the core of your fighting style.
But, here’s the best part: your shield is good for more than just fighting! The abilities you can unlock as you play through The Knightling include surfing on your shield to slide down hills and slopes and, later on, even catching wind currents to use it as a glider. I ADORE any kind of flying/gliding mechanic in games, and I was thrilled when I unlocked this ability in The Knightling. I will admit that I spent… probably well over an hour… after that completely ignoring anything I was actually supposed to do in favor of just flying around and looking at the world from above. Totally worth it!
The Knightling has plenty of content to enjoy, as a good open world game should. If you stick just to the main plot, you could probably complete things in about 10 to 15 hours, but the several environmental puzzles and challenges as well as side quests easily stretches that out. I think I’ve spent around 30 hours in the game and still haven’t found every hidden chest or secret or fully 100%-ed everything that there is to do. The Knightling is definitely worth the price and offers lots to do in its world, with very little repetition. There are a few side quests that are just “go there, do this,” and the button sequence needed to break down enemy armor for resources can get a LITTLE repetitive, but those were the only instances.
The Knightling’s flaws are few and minor, but there is one that I do feel detracted from my experience: when you die (which I did often, especially when I was still getting used to shield-based combat) you can respawn pretty far back and lose a decent amount of progress. This is something that I found frustrating and wish I had more control over. But, like I said, this didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the game. Anything else was just minor bugs that the developers are still ironing out; a few lighting issues, and two instances where the game crashed while I was entering a dungeon, but that’s it.
I think that The Knightling is definitely one of 2025’s hidden gems, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, colorful open world experience, a unique combat experience, or heck, anyone who just wants to go shield-surfing or shield-gliding across a gorgeously designed world! I thoroughly enjoyed almost every moment I spent playing this game, and would love to see more games in the future set in this fun world and featuring this plucky little hero.
Kate played The Knightling on PC using a provided review copy.
